Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Letter to Governor Pritzker: Support for HB 3653

On January 13, 2021, the Illinois General Assembly passed a historic criminal justice reform package (presented by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus). Among the many provisions in the 764 page bill is the Pretrial Fairness Act (PFA) - a comprehensive proposal that ends money bail, reduce...

Waiting for Justice: An examination of the Cook County Criminal Court backlog in the age of COVID-19

The content in this article was originally submitted as testimony to the Cook County Board of Commissioners’ Criminal Justice Committee meeting on January 27, 2020, about peoples' lengths of stay in Cook County Jail and on electronic monitoring, and the effect COVID-19 has had on the growing jail po...

What might “Civilian Oversight” of the Chicago Police Department look like?

Published: January 19, 2021 The Chicago Police Department has been the subject of various concerns for decades; in 2016, a Police Accountability Task Force report exposed major flaws in the policing system, such as racist and biased tactics, gaps in accountability, rampant misconduct, poor co...

VICTORY: Illinois Just Passed the Pretrial Fairness Act and Ended Money Bail

After years of advocacy by the Coalition to End Money Bond - including Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers - and thousands of other organizers across the state, the Illinois Legislature just became the first in the nation to abolish money bail by passing HB 3653 SFA2. Once Governor...

Illinois Supreme Court Amendment to Rule 23 – A Necessary Change

On November 20, the Illinois Supreme Court amended Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23. Rule 23 originally allowed reviewing courts in Illinois to issue decisions as unpublished orders if the ruling does not establish law (is not precedential). The amendment to Rule 23 will now allow these unpublished or...